The need for increased telecommunication interconnections in the office and home has skyrocketed in recent years because of the increased use of computers and other telecommunication equipment for communications. Not many years ago, a standard office usually required only a single communication wall connector (i.e., a telephone jack) between a worker and the outside world. Telephone jacks were provided throughout the building on the basis of one connector per worker requiring a telephone.
The increased use of numerous audio-visual, computer, facsimile machines, and cable equipment for communication has significantly increased the requirement for telecommunication connections. A single worker may require coupling to a computer network, a modem coupling, a telephone coupling, coaxial cable for cable communications, cable television, fiber-optic cable, or other connections. Another worker may require only a single connection, such as a telephone, to the outside world. Providing the required wall connectors for each worker is an expensive and monumental task for designers of today's office space and communication layouts.
A problem with current wall connector configurations is the existence of numerous types of connectors and different standards of interconnections between electrical couplings. A user may require a standard registered jack (RJ) of the type used for telephone equipment. In other locations, the user may require a balun, a coaxial connector, a fiber-optic cable connector, or yet another style connector. Further complicating these requirements are the different industry standards for terminating such connectors. In the U.S., one standard termination scheme is a 110-type insulation displacement connector (IDC). An older-type termination scheme still used in the U.S. is a screw termination in which the wires are stripped and clamped together with screws. In Europe, an industry standard is a Krone.about.-type IDC termination. The requirement to couple to the different types of termination schemes while providing the desired wall connector presents difficult problems for those companies providing telecommunication wall connectors.